Today I went down south to Mandurah with my mum. I caught the train to her station and then she got on and we went to the end of the line, which we both had never been to before. The end of the line is Mandurah, about 1 hours drive from Perth, and a coastal community by the sea. It’s a popular place for holidays and retirees.
We did some sight-seeing along the water, lots of little shops selling souvenirs, fairy shops, cheapie shops, a choco cafe selling everything that’s chocolate including drinkable chocolate (didn’t have time to go back, will do another day), clothes, shoes etc etc
There is an outlet clearance store there that mum wanted to go to, she ended up buying 2 pairs of shoes and a skirt.
We then went and had lunch on the water, good old fish n’ chips. The fish was perfectly battered, crispy and crunchy, and the chips were long and crispy with lots of salt and vinegar! Heaven!
The Bay
The Jetty
Big scary pelican who was waiting for a chip!
A lone bird in the bay
The tide was out, showing the grasses at the bottom
After alot of retail therapy we found a Muffin Break and had afternoon tea!
Hot Chocolate
Jaffa Muffin (orange & chocolate)
Was really yummy, especially the muffin with butter on it!! 
Mmmm
Finally we caught the train back, mum got off at her stop and I went on to the city, then Yasu picked me up at the end of my line. We then went and had Hungry Jacks (Burger King) for dinner…I was still full so I took mine home (Whopper meal), but Yasu had the new Chicken Cheesy Bacon Tender Crisp meal there.
From there we retired to opposite ends of the house, Yasu played Tokunaga on the pc, and I read “The Devil Wears Prada”. I’ve seen the movie before, the book just wasn’t as good as the movie though. Nothing beats Meryl Streep on the screen!
During the 3 weeks I spent in Japan, I recorded in my diary some things that amused and annoyed me or I just noticed were different from Australia.
Yes, I am back home now, and happy to be here. I will blog about my time in Japan over the next few days. But for now, happy reading.
- Lessons in blandness – a salaryman monotone. Far removed from Australia where business men try to individualize their suits by wearing a Superman tie or a bright coloured hankerchief in their pocket, I noticed that most salarymen in Japan were wearing the same coloured suits, the same coloured shirts, and the same ties. They all tended to look the same. I wondered if there were salaryman stores that stock the same of every piece of clothing in the same boring colours.
- Japanese people can’t seem to go anywhere without their mobile phone glued to their ears. If they are not talking on it they are checking it every 5 minutes, using the mirror attached to check their makeup (used to be a no-no in public, seems that redoing your makeup in public, on public transport is now acceptable?). I saw a guy on the train sitting opposite me check his phone for messages no less than 11 times in one minute. Madness. Being contactable 24/7 carries the utmost importance it seems.
- Japanese women could talk under water, or in my experience, they basically never shut up. On the shinkansen from Tokyo to Aomori, a trip of 4 hours or so, two Japanese women behind us talked non-stop, did my head in. I experienced similar on Japanese trains in Nagoya, Tokyo, and Hokkaido. When the conversation between them stops, they then turn to mobile phones and call their friends for more chat time. I know that everyone says women love to talk, but Japanese women seem to love to talk for no reason but for the talking itself. Communication is great, but I just felt that with Japanese women it is an obsession. It is very annoying to be privy to someone’s loud mobile phone conversation on public transport, on a long, tiring journey.
- Smoking rooms at the train stations, that are located next to a waiting room and a kiosk should be moved. The smoking room doors open into the waiting room and kiosk area, which, because of the door opening and closing, are filled with smoke anyway. It doesn’t make any sense to either put the non-smoking waiting room next to the smoking room, or have the door to the smoking room open up into the non-smoking waiting room. Some things about Japan are crazy, this is one of them!
- When is a juice not a juice? When it comes from Japan. On my quest for a real juice I came across up to 30% juice, juice that was made from various oils including coconut and vegetable oils, juice which had more sugar than juice, and water diluted with juice, but no real juice, as in 100% juice from a fruit, until Aomori when I found a can of 100% Aomori apple juice on the shinkansen. Divine, pure heavenly real apple juice, sadly on my last day in Japan. I did bring the can home though as a reminder to myself that I should appreciate the real juice I can find in Aus. I know Kagome makes those juice blends but I am not so much into them as I really wanted plain one fruit juice, one ingredient, fresh juice.
- I hated the fact that in Japan when you go to a restaurant you don’t get your meals brought out all at the same time. It is so maddening! No one eats at the same time, and I hated to eat in front of others who hadn’t got their food yet. In Australia when you order, they make sure they cook it so that everyone gets their meals at the same time or within a few minutes of each other, but in Japan, they cook it by what you order and how long it takes, which I really hate. The service in Japan is great, so why can’t they make the meal service great too?
- I really got sick of the sensor taps in Japanese public toilets that squirt water before I was ready. It seems that if you put your hand up above the tap, it will start squirting water. I didn’t realise this and was squirted a few times when I wasn’t trying to be. It makes sense that when you have your hands under the tap, you want the sensor to work, not when you have your hands over the top.
- I also found a lack of hand soap in public toilets in Japan. They seem to only supply the water and the air blower, and no soap to speak of. In Australia every sink has a hand soap dispenser which is handy, and I found it weird that Japan does not have them, given their almost obsession with cleanliness.
- The hunt for a non-squat toilet in public Japanese toilets. 8 out of 10 toilets were the squat type. The other 2 out of 10 had mostly squat toilets and about 2 normal toilets. I experienced this in Honshu and Hokkaido, so I don’t think it was different for either places.
- Everywhere I walked I saw people carrying Halloween bags from Disneyland. It seemed to be something of an obsession with people of all ages. I’m not really a Disney fan myself. I enjoy the movies but that is as far as it goes. Disney paraphernalia seems to be everywhere in Japan.
- The price of Japanese fruit an vegetables are astounding. One peach, although giant, was around 238 yen. In Australia the price is by weight, not per piece, so I found it hard to pay 198 yen per banana, when in Australia I could get about 5 for that price!
- Japanese food like snacks, chocolate, candy, pet bottle drinks, alcohol, and cookies etc, all seem to be very cheap compared to Australia. One 500ml pet bottle in Australia is about $3.20, compared to Japan where you can pick up a bottle for around 88 yen. I found the cheap prices pretty good, IF you are going to live on junk food. I also found that Japanese supermarkets make pre-prepared meals in the form of bento’s, which Australian supermarkets do not. However, these bento have very little vegetable content, and are mostly fatty meat, fish, or fried food. They are also costly unless bought at the end of the day. I found that fresh fruit and vegetables was very expensive compared to Australia. One small stalk of broccoli was 498 yen in Japan, compared to $3.98 per kilo in Australia.
- The meat in Japan only comes in very small packages, there is no bulk buying it seems. Also, the packets of mince I found, only came in palm size portions, more for putting in gyoza or okazu than for making a curry or lasagne.
- Most Japanese supermarkets are now charging up to 5 yen per plastic bag in a bid to reduce wastage and to urge people to recycle. I found the lack of eco-bags on sale at supermarkets mind boggling. In Australia, we don’t pay for plastic bags yet, but last year they introduced the supermarket’s brand eco-bags for sale, on the end of each register for 99c each. There are quite a few varieties, as in calico, brown paper, nylon, cotton, or plastic. Each are 99c and are reuseable. They also have character versions and special seasonal versions available. It encourages customer loyalty, though you can use those bags at other supermarkets too. It also means they are cheap enough to keep in the back of your car for when you go shopping.
I bought myself a new pair of fluffy, chenille-like material socks today. Ahh they are sooo nice and warm! Lucky I didn’t buy more though, turns out I won’t need them for long. 
Had a great day. I walked 2.3 km to the nearest shops, picked up a few groceries including some chickpea ‘hamburgers’ that are pre-cooked. They have other veggies in them too. I thought they would be good this week as a substitute to meat. I also got some veggies for a stirfry, some pre-cut watermelon slices, and salad. I also checked out the other meat substitutes, tempeh, vegetarian bacon, vegetarian sausages, vegetarian chicken, I was amazed at the range, I’d never actually looked at it before.
I plan to eat about one meat meal a week, probably red meat as that is my favourite.
Anyways, Yasu had other plans, I found out when he got home tonight, he had bought pork belly again, and wanted to make butadon. So I let him make it, but I only had a spoonful of rice to make him happy, and had a side salad. It was quite nice. We had some watermelon for dessert, very juicy.
I took a pic of my new socks with my mobile phone. I haven’t taken them off since I got home, they are so comfy!
I went to visit my mum today but because I have to change trains in the city I popped into one of the department stores for a little look as they had a sale on. My bad! I ended up walking out with $700 worth of clothes!! I only paid $300 for them though as I got most of them 75% off.
I got some great pieces though and they all mix and match quite well. When I got home I gave Yasu a fashion parade and he was pretty impressed, telling me I have good taste. I guess he’s happy to have a fashionable chick as his wife, and a bargain hunter at that! Below are the images I nicked off the brand’s website.
Called a “skant” this is pants with a skirt sewn over the top.
This wrap is made from Alpaca wool, hence the normally $200 price tag.
I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. I also bought the red top she is wearing.
I bought this in black. It goes over anything and is so cosy and warm!
